An Old Fashioned Christmas: An Avenger's Romance
by Arrowhead1996
Summary: It's Steve's first Christmas after being unfrozen. They all have a lot to celebrate, what with defeating Loki's army and all, but Steve is having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Will discovering an unexpected secret make this 21st century Christmas seem a little more, shall we say, old fashioned?
1. Floating in the Stars

**Hello! This story is going to be posted from now through Christmas, hopefully. It is not going to be very long, but it will be a multi-chpater fic. I am planning on updating every week, so we should have several chapters before it ends.**

**This story takes place after Diary of an Avenger, and is some set-up for my second story. You do not have to have read all of the first story, but I would suggest reading some so that you are familiar with Diana.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, only Diana.**

**Diana: Actually, she doesn't own me either. She just made me up.**

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Chapter One

Floating in the Stars

Diana Stark awoke to sunlight just beginning to peek into her room. She allowed herself a luxurious stretch before suddenly sitting up quickly. "Jarvis, where did Tony put the decorations?"

"Good morning, Miss Stark. The time is 6:30 AM, and Mr. Stark hid them in the attic."

Diana grinned. "Thanks, Jarvis!" She bounded out of bed and quickly went about her morning routine, gulping down a glass of milk and a granola bar before slipping on some shoes and heading toward the attic door.

On the way, she met Steve who was on his way to the gym. "Good morning, Miss Stark."

"How many times must I tell you to call me Diana?" she asked, a little reproachfully. "Morning, by the way."

"Sorry. Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Attic. Today is the day I start decorating."

"But Thanksgiving was yesterday. Shouldn't you wait a few days?"

"No way! Where's the fun in that? Christmas is my favorite holiday. I just love decorating and getting into the spirit. Of course, this will be the first year that I have the whole tower to decorate. We used to celebrate in our house in California, but we're all going to be here this year, so I have a lot of work to do. Wanna help?"

Steve chuckled at Diana's rapid-fire explaination. "I'd love to. Where do we start?" With a grin, Diana had him swept up in the details of decorating. She didn't have enough decorations to do the entire tower to her satisfaction, but she did have a paper snowflake for every, single window in the place. She and Steve went around handing out boxes of snowflakes on each floor before returning to the main Avenger floor to eat lunch.

After lunch, Diana dragged Steve after her all over the main floor that the Avengers lived in. By dinnertime, the entire place was decked out with tinsel, paper snowflakes, candy canes and lights. "We'll all decorate the living room together and put up the tree later," Diana said. Then she paused and frowned as Steve collapsed on the couch with a sigh. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just not used to all this. It seemed a little crazy."

Diana laughed. "If you thought this was crazy, you would have passed out if you went shopping with Tony and Pepper today."

"Why?"

"'Cause today is Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving lots of stores have huge sales on their stuff. People go absolutely nuts just to get what they want."

Steve sighed again. At Diana's questioning look, he explained. "So many things have changed from before I was frozen. I guess I was hoping that Christmas would have stayed the same. You know, lots of family and friends coming over and eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate, and singing carols, and just having a good time. Then, a few days before Christmas, the tree would get put up and decorated. It was like the entire neighborhood would be transformed into someplace magical overnight. But everything is so different now."

Diana smiled kindly at him. "We still get a little of that. We don't have many friends to come over, but the Avengers are family now. Once everything is decorated, it does look a little magical. Even the city gets dressed up. You can walk outside and see ribbons and bows and wreaths and lights all over the place. And, of course there is the tree at Rockfeller Center. I love to go skating when it is all lit up. I feel like I'm floating in the stars. That is until Tony runs into me and knocks me over."

Steve laughed. "That sounds like fun."

"Would you like to come with me? They've unveiled it now, so we can go skate tonight if you want. We can finish decorating tomorrow."

Steve smiled, "I'd like that."

That evening, Happy drove Steve, Diana, Tony, Pepper, Bruce and Natasha down to Rockfeller Center to go skating. Clint was on a mission, so he couldn't join them. But that was fine. Steve realized that Christmas hadn't changed as much as he had thought. Diana was ready first, so they all watched her do some figure skating moves while they put on their skates. Tony had rented the rink for the evening, so they were all alone on the ice.

Natasha was ready next. She went out and joined Diana in dancing on the ice. The two moved in sync. While Diana did less complicated moves, Natasha spun and leaped around her. Steve couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was so graceful and confident.

Finally, it was his turn to brave the ice. He had never skated before, so it took some getting used to. Diana was occupied with Bruce, so Natasha came to help him. She held his arm to help steady him as they skate slowly around the outside of the rink.

Steave heard a sound from the center of the rink. He turned to see Diana with her head tilted back to gaze up toward the top of the tree. Her arms were spread out on either side of her, palms up, fingers spread. She was laughing. The sound was so light and free that it made his heart soar along with it.

Diana looked away from the tree and at Natasha. "Come dance with me!"

Steve turned to Natasha with a question in his eyes. She smiled, "Last year, she invited me to join her here. They were building the tower, so they were here for Christmas. We came up with a routine to do, and we agreed to do it every year that we could. Will you be alright if I go dance?"

"Of course. I'd love to watch you."

With a smile, Natasha joined Diana in the center of the rink. Then, while Diana sang a song in what sounded like that Elvish language she was so in to, Natasha did an amazing routine of jumps, spins, and dance moves. Then, Natasha stood in the center of the rink and sang in Russian while Diana did a much less complicated, but no less impressive routine. Then came the grand finale. The two of them wove their voices, languages and dances into one, incredible dance routine that left Steve breathless with wonder.

Finally, the two ended with a bow and the rink exploded with applause. Tony had been videoing the whole thing, and Steve smiled at the look on his face. "That was incredible, you two," Steve told them as they skated over to the side for a rest.

Diana smiled and thanked him, and Natasha nodded in acknowledgement. Steve couldn't help staring for a moment. Natasha's grey-green eyes were sparkling from the exercize, and the cold wind had blown color into her cheeks. Her hair was slightly tousled from leaps she had made, but it still looked beautiful.

"Hey Steve," he pulled his eyes away from Natasha to look at Diana. "Remember what I said about floating in the stars?" he nodded. "That was what I was talking about."


	2. Christmas Spirit

**Hello! I am sorry it took so long to update. My muse seems to be wanting to take a Christmas break. Maybe if you review, she'll find a reason to come back!**

**This chapter is a little short, but it is important. The next chapter is going to be my favorite, so please review so that my muse will actually do something!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, only Diana.**

**Diana: Actually, she doesn't own me either. She just made me up.**

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Chapter Two

Christmas Spirit

Steve was in a bad mood. Despite the incredible skating the night before, he just couldn't help noticing how different things were now. Diana had talked him into taking a walk with her to see some of the decorations that were being put up. He had agreed, but he didn't find it as enjoyable as the skating. While Diana strolled along in a happy dream, humming Chrismas carols under her breath, he just looked at how out of place the decorations looked.

The festive colors brightened the air a little bit, but there was something wrong. There was a quality missing from the atmosphere. The bright cheerfulness that he had always associated with Christmas time was gone. Everyone still seemed to be rushing to get wherever it was that they were going.

When they got back to the tower, Diana disappeared into her room, probably to work on Christmas presents. Steve plopped himself down on the couch and turned the TV on to the Halmark channel. Diana had told him that some of the best movies were on there, and that she loved to watch it during Christmas time.

He discovered that she was right about the movies, they were good, and for a while, he was content. Unfortunately, just as Silver Bells ended, Tony came barging in and began to complain about Diana's decorating tastes.

"I wish I had known that she had made a snowstorm of paper snowflakes for the building," he said, flopping down on the couch beside Steve and grabbing the remote away. "I would have found a way to stop it before she had every window 'decorated'," he emphasized the word decorated with air quotes.

"I think she's just getting into the Spirit of Christmas her way," Steve replied, snatching back the remote and turning off the TV. "I happen to like it. She dragged me all over the building yesterday to help her decorate."

Tony ignored him. "Now she's pushing me to have all of us decorate the living room together. We don't have time for that this year! She's like a little kid. She doesn't understand that we all have important things to do, and we can't just drop everything and decorate the living room."

Finally, Steve couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and put on his best 'you'd-better-listen-to-me' voice. "Tony, your sister is the only person in this building who seems to still get Christmas. So much has changed since I was frozen, and I had hoped that Christmas would stay the same. But it hasn't. Diana is the only one who seems to still be keeping things the same. I'll admit, she does seem to take things a little extreme, but at least she's enjoying the season the way she is supposed to. So you'd better stop complaining about it and just accept that she has something that you don't. Maybe if you took the time to pay attention, you would find out what that is." Turning his back on Tony's stunned face, Steve stalked out of the room.

Natasha entered the room just in time to see Steve leave. "What did you do this time?" she asked Tony, who was still sitting on the couch looking stunned.

"I'm not really sure. Apparently, Chrismas means a lot to Capsicle."

"I'm not surprised. He's been frozen for seventy years. He's probably looking for something to hold on to, and he wants Christmas to be that thing. He just needs a little help getting into the Christmas Spirit." She smiled and went to find Diana. _And I think I know just how to do it_.


	3. The Best Things Happen While You Dance

**Hello! This is a nice, long chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it! There will be one more chapter, and then that should be all. This is the climax, and the next chapter is the resolution.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, only Diana.**

**Diana: Actually, she doesn't own me either. She just made me up.**

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Chapter Three

The Best Things Happen While You Dance

It was Sunday evening, the week before Christmas, and Tony was hiding in his lab. He had finally allowed Diana and Natasha to set a date for decorating the living room, and today was that day. Thing was, he was determined to not show up to their little decorating party. Everyone was going to be there. Thor had brought Jane Foster, Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis to New York to join them for the holiday, and Bruce and Clint had brought SHIELD agents that they were dating.

_Well they're not going to make me go up there._ Tony thought to himself. _I'm just going to stay down here and-._

"Tony Stark, you had better be getting ready to come upstairs or you will be in big trouble." Pepper Potts entered the room with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows lowered in a glare.

"Well then I guess I'm in trouble, because I am not going up there. It would be like admiting defeat!"

"Tony," Pepper's voice softened as she crossed the room and placed her hands on his chest. "Diana has something really special planned tonight. Please, come up for her. She'll be really mad if you don't, and none of us want to deal with an angry Diana. And before you say it again, she won't gloat if you go up. She'll just smile at you and then go on with the party."

Tony sighed. He knew that she had him trapped. She was right, none of them wanted to deal with an angry Diana. "Alright, fine."

The living room looked wonderful. Steve had to admit that even though he had found Diana's decorating tastes to be a little much at first, he certainly loved what she had planned for the living room. Stepping into the room now was like stepping back in time. It was completely decked out with garlands of ivy, and wreaths of evergreen boughs. The tree was full of ornaments, and loaded down with strings of tinsel, popcorn and cranberries. A fire was crackling cheerfully in the fireplace below the TV, and Christmas music by familiar singers was filling the room thanks to JARVIS.

"Okay, everyone, gather 'round please!" Diana called. "JARVIS, would you please turn down the music a little?"

"Of course, Miss Stark," the AI replied, and the music volume went down enough that they could all hear Diana as she began her speech.

"Friends and family, we are gathered tonight to decorate in honor of the most important holiday of the year. Although most people these days celebrate the fact that they are getting presents, that wasn't the original purpose of the season. The original purpose was to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I think that is what we have been missing in years before. What _I've_ been missing. Steve has reminded me that it's not the decorations or the music or the movies that make the season so special. In recognition of his important reminder, and because it is his first Christmas in the twenty-first century, I would like Steve to put the angel on the top of the tree."

Steve was a little surprised at this statement. He had assumed that Tony would put the angel on since it was his building. But Diana was handing him a beautiful angel with blond hair and blue eyes, all dressed up in a flowing, white dress embroidered with gold threads. Gently, he took the angel in his hands. Carefully, he reached up and placed her delecately on the top of the tree. Everyone applauded, and Steve felt like Christmas had finally begun.

With the decorating complete, the floor was cleared for dancing. Since Darcy and Diana didn't have male partners, they joined Eric in sitting and watching the couples dance. Tony and Pepper, Jane and Thor, and Clint and Bruce with their dates. Steve was sitting down because he still didn't know how to dance. It took him a moment to realize that Natasha was sitting down as well.

She wasn't sitting for long. Not long after she spotted him looking at her, she stood and crossed the room to sit beside him. "Not interested in dancing?" she asked.

"I don't know how. I was supposed to learn, but I was too busy getting frozen."

"Would you like me to teach you?"

Steve looked at her in surprise. "I-I don't know," he stuttered. "I don't know if I'm ready." Natasha cocked her head, not understanding. Steve elaborated, "When I first met Peggy, we had a conversation about how I had never actually talked to a woman. I mentioned that women weren't really lining up to dance with a guy they might step on. I was really small. She asked if I had ever danced. I said that asking a woman to dance had always seemed so terrifying. I figured I'd wait."

"For what?" Natasha asked.

Steve looked right into her eyes. "The right partner."

Nat knew what he was saying. She stood up slowly, pulling him up with her as she did so. In a barely audible whisper, she said, "Am I that right partner?" There was a long pause, during which they gazed deeply into each other's eyes.

Nat felt that all of her barriers were being smashed through, allowing him unhindered access to her innermost being. She hated to think what he must see there. Her ledger was gushing red, just as Loki had said. How could someone as wonderful as Steve want someone as messed up as herself? Yet as she gazed into his eyes, she saw them fill with love and acceptance.

"Yes." His whisper was almost as inaudible as her own. Slowly, he bent down and pressed his lips against hers. When they finally broke apart, Nat pulled Steve onto the dance floor.

As they slowly swayed together, with Nat's head leaning gently on his broad chest, she realized that the song in the movie, White Christmas, was right. The best things do happen while you dance.


	4. Christmas Miracles

**Hello and welcome to the last chapter of An Old Fashioned Christmas: An Avenger's Romance! I hope you have all enjoyed this little trip, I certainly have.**

**This chapter ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, but I'm hoping that this will make you all want to read Diary of an Avenger and its sequals when they come out. Yes, I did say sequals. Diary of an Avenger is being expanded into THREE books instead of the two that I had originally planned. Hopefully, we can all make it through all of that.**

**Now that this story is finished, I will get back to working on Diary of an Avenger. Happy New Year all!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, only Diana, Cynthia and Hannah.**

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Chapter Four

Christmas Miracles

It was Christmas morning, and Steve had never felt so happy. When he entered the living room, he found Nat already settled on the couch. With a smile, he placed his presents for the others under the tree and then went and sat beside her. Without a word, Nat changed her position from leaning against the couch to snuggling against his side.

"Good morning," Steve said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Good morning. Merry Christmas," she replied with a smile.

"Merry Christmas, Tasha." With a smile, Nat stretched upward toward his lips. Steve bent his head and pressed his lips gently against hers.

They were interrupted by loud applause. They broke apart to see Tony enter the room followed by everyone else. "Congratulations!" Tony called. "You two make an adorable couple."

"Thanks, Stark," Nat said with a chuckle.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to reveal Cynthia and Hannah, Bruce and Clint's SHIELD girlfriends. The two of them were each carrying multiple packages, and their dates hurried over to relieve them of their burdens and place them under the tree. Now that everyone was there, they were all ready to open presents.

"I want to give out my presents first!" Tony called. With a grin, he reached under the tree and pulled out a present wrapped in red paper with a black bow. He handed this one to Nat. Reluctantly, she uncurled from her position against Steve's side and took the small, cube-shaped package. When she unwrapped it, she was stunned. It was a stack of eight CDs. The top four were famous ballets. The next three were several popular albums in Russian. The last one was a home-made CD with tracks of Clint singing in Russian, Diana singing in Elvish, and one that was the song that Nat and Diana had sung together when they were ice skating.

"Tony, these are wonderful. Thank you. How did you know to get me ballets?"

"I read your file. It said that you used to be a ballet dancer. I thought you might want to take it up again."

"That sounds nice. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. Now," Tony reached under again and pulled out a slim, rectangular package wrapped in white paper with red and blue stars on it. Steve pulled the paper off, and drew in a breath. Inside, was a scrapbook of pictures from his days in the army. However, it wasn't new. "My dad made it," Tony said at Steve's confused look. "We had it for a while, but I think it should belong to you now."

"Thank you, Tony. This was very thoughtful."

Tony's gift to Bruce was a pair of stretchy pants so that when he transformed into the Hulk, he wouldn't always need new clothes. Clint recieved some new arrows, and Thor recieved a watch. Everyone was confused at the purpose of this gift, but when they saw Thor's face, they all couldn't help laughing. They had all been expecting Tony to give Thor something useful or thoughtful like he had the others, but he had turned the tables on them and proved that he was still Tony, even on Christmas.

His gift to Diana was a beautiful, boxed set of Lord of the Rings books. Each book was hardcover, and had beautiful detailing on them. There was also an Elvish-English Dictionary that he had painstakingly compiled based on what she had told him, and what he could find on the internet.

Steve's presents were next. He had drawn a picture for everyone. For Thor, he had drawn a picture of Thor, his mother and father, Sif and the Warriors Three, and Loki when they were all younger. Thor was constantly telling stories about how they would all play games together, so Steve wanted to remind him of the good times he used to have with his adopted brother.

Tony recieved a picture of himself flying the missile into the portal that day that they defeated Loki. In the corner was a note that said, 'To remind you that you aren't always selfish.'

Pepper's picture was a funny drawing of herself scolding the Avengers for acting like children. The note in the corner said, 'Thank you for acting as our mother.'

Bruce's picture was also of himself. He was in his lab working hard on some project. Clint's picture was of a hawk perched on the top of a tall tree gazing out over a forest of pines, and Diana's picture was of herself as a conductor for an orcestra.

One by one, they went around the room handing out their presents. Most of them were thoughtful or useful or funny. The room was filled with the laughter of friends and family, and Steve couldn't help smiling as he wrapped his arm around Nat's shoulders, holding her closely to his side.

Finally, all the presents were opened and everyone was sitting around the room chatting about their gifts or playing with them, depending on the person and the present. Steve decided to take advantage of the distractions and pull Natasha into the hallway. "I haven't given you your present yet," he said.

Slowly, he went down on one knee and pulled out a ring box. Natasha drew in a sharp breath as he began to speak. "Natasha, I love you so much. I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you at my side. Will you marry me?" As he said the last words, he opened the box to reveal a simple, gold ring set with a single diamond surrounded by tiny rubies.

"Steve, are you sure about this?" Nat asked in a quiet voice. "I mean, you know who I am. What my past is like. Are you really sure that you want to connect yourself to that kind of person?"

"Tasha," Steve started, standing up and gently taking her face in his hands after tucking the ring box back in his pocket for a moment. "I love you. No matter what you have done in the past, it is gone now. You regret it, and you are working hard to make up for it. You are not that kind of person any more. The question isn't, am _I_ sure of it. The question is, are _you_ sure of it?"

Natasha gazed deep into his eyes. She could see how much he loved her in those beautiful, blue depths. She felt something stir inside her that she hadn't felt in a very, long, time. She felt love for the man standing before her. "Yes," she whispered, almost afraid to say it aloud incase she was dreaming. "I am."

Steve's face split into a huge grin. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the ring box again, opened it, took the ring out, and slid it onto Natasha's finger.

About a month after they anounced their engagement, Tony and Pepper also became engaged. About two months after that, Thor and Jane became engaged. Unwilling to keep their special days to themselves, they all agreed on a triple wedding. The women of the Avengers were in a frenzy, getting everything set up. There were a few close calls, but everything came off without a hitch in the end.

Everyone was very happy. The bad guys seemed to have taken a break from bothering the world, and there was nothing alarming that aquired the Avengers attention. As a result, Thor and Jane went to Asgard and Thor resumed his princely duties there. Everyone was beginning to feel that they could relax. That is until they recieved a most unwelcome visitor that turned their whole world upside-down.


End file.
